Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Stitches West 2012

Last week, I took my first plane ride in over ten years! Everything went smoothly. I traveled with a friend, Kathy, who graciously let me have the window seat so I could take a picture out the window every five minutes. Views over Colorado:

Where did we go, you wonder? (Or perhaps not, if you read the title.) To Stitches West in Santa Clara, California! I went with Windy Valley Muskox to help in their booth, and had a great time! We stayed at the Hyatt Regency connected to the convention center. I'll give you a little run-down of practically everything I did, in case you want to live vicariously. I was determined to take pictures of everything, and started out strong, not even missing my pretty plates of food.

Views over California:

Wednesday:
5:30 a.m. Kathy picked me up and we drove to Denver International Airport.

9:00 Up in the air!

11:30 Landed safely and checked in to the Hyatt Hotel; went to lunch at a Greek place whose specialty was the Philly sandwich.

2:00 p.m. Time to get to work. We spent the afternoon putting together displays, mannequins, signs, etc.

10:30 Lots more work to do - set up all yarn displays, dressed mannequins, etc.; takes more time than it sounds like!

1:00 p.m. The gang went to Staples while I walked around the market floor and met people, including bead sellers, knitting guilds, jewelry makers, yarn shop owners, yarn dyers, yarn company reps, etc. Lots of beautiful booths and so much yarn!

3:30 Lunch outside in the sunshine - loved the pesto on my pizza.

5:00 Market Preview time - the market was open to SW class attendees, vendors, etc. I sat at the Yarn Tasting table helping people find the kind of yarn they wanted to knit with, and visiting with anyone who had a minute to sit and knit.

8:00 Market closed. Sushi for dinner!

10:00 Early to bed.

By this point, I was getting tired of lugging my big camera everywhere, so I left it in my room during the Market hours, which was most of the day.

Friday:
8:30 a.m. Belgian waffle for breakfast.

9:30 Walked around the market before the doors opened.

10:00 Market open to the public - lots of people stopped by our booth. LOTS!

6:00 p.m. Market closed. Ran up to my room to freshen up.

6:30 Stitches West Fashion Show (took pictures of every piece), followed by the Fashion Show dinner. Now how I managed to forgot to take a picture of that delicious entree I don't know, but you can see my dessert in my Flickr set.

9:45 SW Pajama Party, hosted by my actual, longtime friend, Marly. Since she was busy running it, though, I took the opportunity to meet some new people. I had a great time getting to know some other knitters, and meeting some knit-world celebs.

11:59 To bed.

Saturday:

Saturday was a lot like Friday, only instead of the Fashion Show there was a Students' Banquet. Very good food. Afterward, I hung out with Marly, who was stressed about the curriculum for her class the next morning, and did not know how to maneuver her new PhotoShop program. I helped a little?

Sunday:
8:30 a.m. Went to Marly's Beaded Crochet class for an hour, then dropped my bags off with the bell captain.

10:00 Time for more yarn tasting and making more friends.

4:00 p.m. Market closed. Time to break things down and pack things up.

4:45 On our way to the airport.

10:08 Landed in Denver.

1:00 a.m. Back to bed.

Far and away the most impressive thing was meeting so manypeople who are enthusiastic about knitting, crocheting, yarn, and fiber. I met people from Colorado, I met influential people in the knitting world, I met men who knit, kids who knit, and lots of people with beautiful shawls. I had a lot of fun getting to know Dianne from Windy Valley Muskox better, and her aunts Paula, and Kathy. I learned that I should be knitting with my best yarns first, instead of saving them for a rainy day. (If I had learned this sooner, I actually would have had something interesting to wear!) I hope you enjoyed my little trip! I had so much fun and really enjoyed meeting people. I learned a lot about qiviut, and knit a lot. Here's what I arrived home with. (To see more details, click on the picture to see tags in Flickr.)

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